From The Van Wert Times Bulletin (Van Wert, Ohio) 
November 28, 1972 

Gilliland Named
Commander Of
Navy Destroyer

   Lwrence A. Gilliland Jr., formerly of Elm St., is now commander of a ship. This month he took over command of the reserve training destroyer Robert H. McCard in Charleston, S.C. He will move the ship to Tampa, Fla. early in 1973 and it will be there duing the winter.
   At the change-of-command ceremony in Charleston, the commander’s mother, Mrs. Lawrence A. Gilliland Sr. was present, also his wife Sarah of East Liverpool, Ohio, and his aunt, Mrs. Gordon B. Gilliland of Tulsa, Okla.
   His father, the late Lawrence A. Gilliland Sr., was Van Wert County Director of Elections.
   The new commander of the Robert H. McCard was graduated from Van Wert High School in 1953 and from Northwestern University in 1957.
   Commander Gilliland is pleased with his new assignment according to a letter from him received by a local friend. He wrote, “Now I’ve got to go to work and help McCard get reorganized and out of the shipyard so we can start operating like a ship again. Fortunately, I’m blessed with good people who know what they’re doing and seem to like their jobs.
  The commander and his wife were in Van Wert this past weekend to attend the wedding of his cousin Kathleen Gunsett and Stephan Dibert.

-- transcription by Kate Maynard, 2010